New Branch of Treetop Hotel Market Puts More Tourists Out on a Limb

Long an escape only for the wealthy, treehouse vacationing is now available to those of more modest means, as bargain treetop resorts expand across Europe. WSJ's Daniel Michaels reports.

By

Daniel Michaels

Aug. 21, 2012 10:31 p.m. ET

MAISONS-LAFFITTE, France—Anna Kim thought her family couldn't afford a high-end hotel. High end of a tree, that is.

The software specialist knew of resorts perched atop forests but assumed they were out of reach.

"We always kind of wished we could stay in a tree," said the Coloradan while vacationing with her husband and three children at a campsite near Paris. "I'm glad to find one that's affordable," she said of their simple wood cabin 10 feet up.

For the privileged, tree-high holidays in the wild have long been status symbols. England's Princess Elizabeth was staying at Treetops Hotel in a Kenyan safari park in 1952 when she got the news that her father had died and that she was to be queen. Brazil's Ariau Amazon Towers, which now claims to be the world's largest treetop inn, opened in 1987 at the suggestion of oceanographer Jacques Cousteau.

Other treehouses are destinations for their design and luxury, with rates for two running to $650 or more per night. Northern Sweden's Treehotel offers fanciful units conceived by a number of Scandinavian architects, including one camouflaged as a giant bird's nest, another that resembles a flying saucer and a mirrored cube that almost disappears into surrounding woods.

Winvian hotel and spa in Morris, Conn., offers a new two-story tree cottage with a wet bar, Jacuzzi, steam shower and two wood-burning fireplaces. Décor is a fake-adolescent riot of colors, including mismatched couch cushions. One fireplace is surrounded by old license plates and beer labels to convey "the whimsy of kids going amok with the design," says Rebecca Widness, speaking for the hotel.

Now, a French nature lover is bringing arboreal abodes down to earth. Arnaud de La Chesnais runs La Cabane en l'Air, which has built nearly 250 simple treehouses in 34 locations across France, at heights up to 72 feet. Imitations are mushrooming around Europe, allowing whole families to go out on a limb on a budget, for as little as $100 per night.

Some people still balk, especially guests arriving thanks to gift certificates. "Sometimes it's a surprise, and they're a bit stressed out," says Hérve de Mézerac, who offers five of Mr. de La Chesnais's cabins in Normandy. Two visitors have refused to climb up since 2007, he says.

Mr. de La Chesnais, who built treehouses as a youngster, started producing aeries for adults as a lark. When his sister married in 2003, he made the newlyweds a love nest 25 feet up for their wedding night.

ENLARGE

Treehouse designed by Mr. de La Chesnais

"I built the treehouse of my dreams," recalls Mr. de La Chesnais, who runs a nature reserve with camping in Brittany.

For Valentine's Day a year later, a Parisian couple called seeking an unusual romantic spot. Mr. de La Chesnais let them stay in the treehouse, and soon afterward the concept was born. The naturalist decided to branch out and start building cabins in the air.

His tree-hugging construction teams use only lumber from sustainable forests and natural materials, such as wood fiber for insulation. Each cabin is custom-built for its perch. To avoid hurting venerable flora, the cabins are anchored without nails or screws, using clamps and cables that can be adjusted as trees grow. Branches snake through rooms.

The huts have no plumbing and most lack electricity or windowpanes. Some have screens and mosquito nets over beds. One crucial amenity included: composting toilets. Under a traditional seat, made of wood, sits a bucket lined with a biodegradable bag holding sawdust.

Vacationers can "holiday Tarzan-style," says Keycamp, a British outdoor-travel company that markets La Cabane around Europe. Treehouses are now Keycamp's most popular accommodations, the company says.

Mr. de La Chesnais seeks out spots in lush forests across France. A new addition is roughly 90 minutes west of Paris on the estate of the Grande Noë château, owned by his cousins. Last year they installed six cabins in five trees.

One giant oak can sleep nine people in two units, at 26 and 33 feet up. It also has a terrace at 46 feet, all accessible by spiral staircase. The Paradiso cabin in another tree sits 53 feet up and is reached by a rope ladder with wooden rungs. Climbers must wear a harness.

"Getting the mattress up was tough," says Gavin Davey, an English accountant who is married to Mr. de La Chesnais's cousin and returned with her last year to run the estate's treehouses. "Everyone who visits me from England says I've lost weight."

One acrophobic guest, whose husband had booked the Paradiso without consulting her, took an hour to reach her room, Mr. Davey recalls. Children over two years old are allowed in all the treehouses except the Paradiso. Guests must sign a release.

Most of Mr. de La Chesnais's cabins are reached by stairs. Ropes along the sides assist children—and adults who may have enjoyed too much local wine.

Treehouse hotels elsewhere ensure guest safety by staying closer to the ground. Many, including the Kims' cabin near Paris, are built on stilts at tree level. It still gave "almost a rain forest feeling" amid sounds of suburban wildlife, said Mrs. Kim.

Ariau Towers has seven miles of walkways through the Amazon jungle, also on stilts. The design is useful during floods, which swamp the hotel's lowest level. Managers simply shift walkways to a higher level, says spokeswoman Jill Siegel.

To purists, the only real base for a treehouse is a tree. "When the tree moves, the cabin moves," boasts Mr. de Mézerac of his cabins in Normandy.

The arrangement can pose challenges, though. In March, a heavily pregnant woman who hadn't mentioned her condition needed emergency help 39 feet up a tree. It took firefighters two hours to get her down, Mr. de Mézerac recalled. A helicopter whisked her to a hospital, where she gave birth to a healthy boy.

Going into labor, Mr. de Mézerac quickly added, "was not because of the treehouse."

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